Peter R. Vail, professor emeritus at Rice University,
has been named the 2003 recipient of the Sidney Powers Memorial
Award, heading the list of those being honored this year by the
Association.
AAPG awards, approved by the Executive Committee,
are presented annually to recognize individuals for service to the
profession, the science, the Association and the public.
As a recipient of the Powers Medal, Vail is bestowed
the Association's highest honor.
Vail, retired senior research scientist of Exxon
Production Research Co., is widely recognized for his work in seismic
stratigraphy. These procedures were published in AAPG Memoir 26
and later led to the expansion of sequence stratigraphy.
Vail and his fellow honorees will be recognized at
the opening session at the 2003 AAPG annual meeting, which will
be held May 11-14 in Salt Lake City.
Full biographies and citations of all award winners
will be included in a future BULLETIN, and an interview with Vail
will be published in a future EXPLORER.
Those award winners approved by the Executive Committee
and who will be honored along with Vail in Salt Lake City are:
Honorary Membership Award
Presented to members who have distinguished themselves
by their accomplishments and through their service to the profession
of petroleum geology and to AAPG. This year's honorees are:
- Mahmoud M. Abdul-Baqi, Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
- Kenneth W. Glennie, consultant, Ballater, Scotland.
- Walter Grün, retired, Vienna, Austria.
- Roger M. Slatt, School of Geology & Geophysics, University
of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
- M. Ray Thomasson, Thomasson Partner & Associates, Denver.
Michel T. Halbouty Human Needs Award
Honors an individual for the outstanding application
of geology to the benefit of human needs, recognizing scientific
excellence.
Rex Monahan, independent geologist, Sterling, Colo.
Distinguished Educator Award
Presented for distinguished and outstanding contributions
to geological education, both at the university level and toward
education of the general public. This year's honorees are:
- Frank G. Ethridge, Department of Earth Resources, Colorado
State University, Fort Collins, Colo.
- Albert V. Carozzi, Department of Geology, University of Illinois
, Urbana, Ill.
Special Award
Presented to individuals and organizations whose
area of work may not qualify for one of the existing awards, but
is worthy of association recognition.
Waverly Person, National Earthquake Information Service,
U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colo.
Public Service Award
Presented to recognize contributions of AAPG members
to public affairs — and intended to encourage such activities.
Charles E. Brown II, independent geologist, Denver.
Pioneer Award
Presented to long-standing members who have contributed
to the Association and who have made meaningful contributions to
the science of geology. This year's honorees are:
- Robert M. Sanford, international exploration consultant, Irving,
Texas.
- Rushdi Said, Intergeosearch, Annandale, Va.
Distinguished Service Award
Presented to those who have distinguished themselves
in singular and beneficial long-term service to AAPG. This year's
honorees are:
- Paul Weimer, Department of Geologic Sciences, University of
Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
- Steven L. Veal, DCX Resources, Denver.
- Donald W. Lewis, retired, Lafayette, Calif.
- Norbert E. Cygan, consultant, Castle Rock, Colo.
Outstanding Explorer Award
Presented to members in recognition of distinguished
and outstanding achievement in exploration for petroleum or mineral
resources, with an intended emphasis on recent discovery.
William J. Barrett, retired, Cherry Hills Village,
Colo.
Journalism Award
Presented for notable journalistic achievement, in
any medium, which contributes to public understanding of geology,
energy resources or the technology of oil and gas exploration. This
year's honorees are:
- Ron Redfern, for his book, "Origins." Redfern also won the
AAPG Journalism Award in 1983, for "Corridors of Time."
- Simon Winchester, for his book "The Map That Changed the World:
William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology." Winchester will
be the featured speaker at the All-Convention Luncheon at the
2003 AAPG annual meeting in Salt Lake City.
Robert H. Dott Sr. Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author/editor of
the best special publication dealing with geology published by the
Association.
Marlan W. Downey, Jack C. Threet and William A. Morgan,
for Memoir 74: "Petroleum Provinces of the Twenty-First Century."
Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author(s) of the
best AAPG BULLETIN article published each calendar year.
Stephen C. Ruppel and Roger J. Barnaby, for "Contrasting
Styles of Reservoir Development in Proximal and Distal Chert Facies:
Devonian Thiryone Formation, Texas," which appeared in the January
2001 BULLETIN.
George C. Matson Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation
at the AAPG annual meeting in Denver.
Richard G. Harris, with EnCana, Calgary, Canada,
for "Structural Analysis of Eastern Yemen Using Remote Sensing Data."
His co-author was Mark Cooper, also with EnCana.
Jules Braunstein Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation
at the AAPG annual meeting in Denver.
Vitor Dos Santos Abreu, with Exxon Mobil Upstream
Research, Houston; Philip A. Teas, William Spears and Steve Pierce,
all with Unocal, Sugar Land, Texas; Thomas David De Brock, with
Energy Partners, New Orleans; Kendall Meyers; and Dag Nummedal,
Institute for Energy Research, Department of Geology and Geophysics,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo., for the poster "Reservoir
Characterization of the South Timbalier 26 Field: The Importance
of Shelf Margin Deltas as Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico."